What
is news is that Americans also have little trust in the legal system, the
operating system of our Bill of Rights, the bedrock of our nation's commitment
to "liberty and justice for all."

A
new nationwide Clarus poll conducted in late June for Common Good, the nonpartisan
government reform coalition, found deep distrust of the legal system across the
board, with only 26 percent of voters believing our civil justice system provides timely and reliable resolution of disputes. That comes after a recent Gallup
poll discovered merely 29 percent of Americans have a "great deal" or "quite a
lot" of confidence in the criminal
justice system.

The
Clarus poll also revealed that only 6 percent of the electorate wants the civil
justice system to stay as it is, while an overwhelming 92 percent want some
sort of change.

These
numbers should trouble Americans of all political stripes, and they should
awaken elected officials, Democrats, and Republicans, to the deep dangers of
what most voters view as a broken system.

Clearly,
Americans sense something isn't working in our nation's courtrooms. That comes
on top of well-documented public suspicion of political backrooms and corporate
boardrooms. This massive lack of trust is not an esoteric issue to be discussed
in law school seminars -- it is, instead, a fundamental problem in a diverse,
expansive country that relies upon public confidence in its institutions for
national stability.

Additional
Clarus poll findings:

86 percent of voters
polled say they agree that there is an increasing tendency for Americans to
threaten legal action and lawsuits when things go wrong.

67 percent say that the time
and trouble it takes to file a lawsuit discourages many people with legitimate
cases from going to court.

51 percent believe that
people have become so fearful of frivolous lawsuits that they are discouraged
from engaging in normal activities.

When asked
whether the civil justice system needs to change the way it handles lawsuits,
53 percent say there is a need for either fundamental change or the complete
rebuilding of the system. 39 percent say there should be minor changes,
and only 6 percent say they want to keep the system as it is.

A solid
majority of voters--74 percent--identified a possible solution: they believe
judges should have the discretion to throw out civil claims without legal merit
before they are allowed to go forward.

The Clarus poll was
conducted June 21-25, 2012 with a sample of 1,000 self-identified registered
voters and a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent. Interviews were conducted by
live telephone calls, landline, and cell.

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Ron Faucheux is president of Clarus Research Group, a nonpartisan polling firm based in Washington, D.C.